


The Dreaming Princess

by ShivaVixen



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Akumatization gone wrong, Akumatized Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Continuity What Continuity, Continuity issues from canon carry over, DYAC, Focus on Friendship, Fun Nonsense, Gen, Hawkmoth overestimates his abilities, Marinette gets hurt, Some theories and salt for flavor, Use of some old trivia, autocorrect thinks that should be macaroons, not so fun nightmares, posted to tumblr, speculation on the other power up macarons, there are downsides to RocknRoll
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2021-01-15 08:24:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21250367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShivaVixen/pseuds/ShivaVixen
Summary: When Marinette gets attacked by one of Jagged’s more disturbing fans, she gets saved from an unexpected quarter.Hawkmoth is a villain, but he has standards, thank you very much.Only, head wounds and akumas don’t mix well.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Cross posted to tumblr, going to see how well this goes.

It should be noted that Hawkmoth did have standards, though not enough to stop being a super villain. The butterfly miraculous worked best on those who strongly believed that they were in the right, and so he generally avoided petty thieves and other criminals. 

So when Gabriel felt distress mixed with the desperation to fight, he snuck away from the mayor’s costume ball that Audrey Bourgeois had invited him for old times sake and he had only agreed to because it would be easier to go to this one event now in order to be able to decline the rest (there also seemed to have been a talent show, several of Adrien’s classmates were here) to check if it was someone he could use.

What he got was a sense of recognition. It was the girl who had decent designs, Marinette. (She’d managed to avoid akumazation thus far, but luck could only carry someone for so long.)

The attacker was unfamiliar, but the emotions were far too predatory for Hawkmoth’s liking.

He was a villain with standards, thank you very much, and the girl was useful. A small benefit from the butterfly miraculous was being able to sense emotions, and that girl had been lying about why she had the book, but genuine in wanting Adrien to be happy. A curious mix, especially with her strong sense of justice.

So far those with a strong morality had been the most useful of pawns.

Ignoring the odd flutter that was Nooro trying to get his attention, Hawkmoth sent out the akuma.

It landed on a rose which was in her hand and touching the crocodile that Jagged Stone had. 

In a moment he got the full picture. A Fan of Jagged had managed to infiltrate the party, and had attacked the girl while she was putting the finishing touches on the crocodile’s costume. 

Jagged and his assistant had stepped out to talk to someone that they hadn’t wanted Marinette dealing with. The Fan has snuck in and for reasons Marinette didn’t know, had hit her with the vase of roses, knocking her down and onto the crocodile.

The crocodile liked the girl, Jagged had added her to the list of people it should protect. (Hawkmoth suspected magic around the crocodile to make it so ... dog-like.) 

“Princess, allow me to help you. Your Dragon shall deal with your attacker.”

The head injury was most likely serious, as the girl’s response made little sense.

“I can’t transform, I just finished making this dress...”

“Don’t worry. I won’t have you try for the miraculous... this time.” Hawkmoth understood her frustration when a design got ruined after being completed. He’d just akumatize her again when she didn’t have the head injury.

The attacker was promptly barbecued by the newly formed dragon.

In theory, Hawkmouth could remove his akumas without any interference, the girl would be safe and get her head looked at when Jagged returned and everything would be fine ... well, save for the pile of ashes that was the attacker.

Hawkmoth reaches out to recall the akuma, only instead of being recalled, it felt as if the akuma was stuck. Something was wrong.

Stunned, Gabriel de-transformed and looked at Nooro.

“I tried to tell you, she has a head injury. Those never interact well with the butterfly miraculous.”

The building shook, and the already impressive bathroom changed into one where all the metal was gold.

“It’s connected to her subconscious, so it’s making her dreams real. You should be able to control it and keep it stable.” Nooro explained. 

“Well then, let’s turn it into a fairytale with a princess as the prize.” Ladybug and Chat Noir would be able to get pass the dragon and destroy the akuma. It would be a simple matter.

“Master, one more thing: she will need to be woken up before the akuma can be destroyed. Otherwise... the Sleeping Beauty story has a basis from the last time it happened. It took a hundred years for someone to figure it out, and if this goes too long, everyone here will be trapped in a never ending dream.” Nooro looked at him. “Even you. You have some control and power to manipulate this dream, but you won’t be able to wake her up, that requires someone who is outside of the dream.”

“... I see.” Difficult, but not impossible. Gabriel transformed again, reconnecting with the Akuma. He was rather disconcerted when his single step forward ended up in the room where the girl was still crumpled on the floor. 

She was dressed for the party, a pink Hanfu with impressive embroidery in a slightly darker pink. There was a rose gold hair band in her hair, the closest she could get to a tiara, most likely, and her hair was down. On the table nearby was a mask that matched the hanfu in color and embroidery and would cover most of her face save for her mouth and chin.

“A fairytale princess shouldn’t be on the floor. Here.” He picked her up and placed her on the bed.

As soon as she was placed on the bed, it shimmered briefly into something horribly familiar, before simply turning into a mahogany bed with rose gold trimming and pink gauze curtains that Hawkmoth quickly closed around her.

“Don’t worry, you won’t have to do anything.” Hawkmoth assured the sleeping princess as the room completed its transformation, while the bedroom had retained most of its modern look, the rest turned to marble and the Dragon curled up in the antechamber to the bedroom.

The door burst open, and Jagged and his assistant looked horrified to see him.

“Shh, the princess is asleep.” Hawkmoth smirked as the dragon growled. “You should have better security, she was attacked while you were gone by the smoldering pile of ash.” He gestured to the remains of the attacker.

“Let Marinette go, you can have me instead!” Jagged offered, something that his assistant agreed to.

“You can have us both!” 

“Oh, I’m afraid I can’t. But don’t worry, this fairytale has just started.” Hawkmoth marveled at the way reality bent and twisted. There was a flutter from Nooro, but he didn’t notice.

It would be a waste to not do the story telling right, after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien was enjoying the costume party, then things go sideways.

Adrien was enjoying himself. While he had to wear a costume approved by his father, he was still at a party where the top three acts of a recent talent show were allowed to perform. Kitty Section and Nino’s DJ selection had earned first and second place. The winners were allowed to bring guests, and so a good chunk of his class was here, in fact, All of his class was here, as Kim, Alix, Nathaniel and Max had offered to help the Dupain-Chang’s with setting up the dessert table and were currently walking around with various sweets. How they talked Alix into wearing a dress was a mystery that wasn’t solved until he noticed that Kim was walking in heels, so apparently a challenge had happened. Alya had a trench coat, hat and microphone, Mylene was a mime, Juleka was a pirate.

Also in the plus column was Kagami, she was wearing a black kimono with a red obi. The only downside was Lila, who was wearing a princess dress (which had Chloe fuming as she was dressed as a princess as well while Sabrina was her lady in waiting) but she apparently knew better than to start lying while surrounded by people who could disprove the claims.

It was awesome. “So, where’s Marinette?” Adrien asked Nathaniel as he walked by.

“She’s delivering a commission. She also got an actual invite for this, so her parents hired us.”

“A commission? For who?”

“I have no idea.” Nathaniel tugged at his collar. “She’s been secretive about it, Alya couldn’t get anything out of her.”

“I wonder if it’s Jagged again?” Adrien perked up. “If it’s a new Album cover I want to get her to sign it.”

“What?” Kagami asked, looking surprised. Lila had a similar expression.

“Marinette designed an album cover for Jagged Stone a while back, I got her to sign it for me.” Adrien smiled. “She’s got tickets reserved for anytime he’s in Paris. And he did a show in her parents bakery, so he keeps in contact with them.”

“I thought she only did fashion design.” Kagami was surprised.

Lila was as well, but for a different reason. She’d thought Marinette had just been jealous, it hadn’t occurred to her that the reason Marinette hadn’t been impressed was because she actually knew Jagged Stone! Lila grimaced, she’d have to see if there was a way to salvage the situation later.

Everyone was having a good time, and his dad was so busy with his contacts that he wasn’t watching while Adrien kept sneaking snacks.

When the ballroom changed, Adrien almost didn’t notice. When a gigantic mirror appeared, everyone froze. Especially as it turned a familiar purple and Hawkmoth, wearing a high collared cape for dramatic effect stepped out. Jagged and Penny were thrown out of it, both scrambling to their feet, and Penny holding Jagged back.

“Allow me to be your entertainment this evening. Observe.”

The mirror changed to show Marinette with Fang, some guy in a uniform entered. Fang growled and the man hit Marinette with the vase. Marinette’s parents cried out, and Kagami and Alya made noises that sounded like growls.

Marinette stumbled back into Fang having accidentally gotten a rose caught on her sleeve, and the akuma that followed caused Fang to turn into a dragon and incinerate the attacker. Around her the room began to change as she collapsed.

The last image was of Marinette, sleeping on a bed and holding the rose, Fang the Dragon curling up to block the door.

“Your Princess is trapped in a dream, and this building has become her dream realm.” Hawkmoth chuckled. “I’ll be playing the part of the evil enchanter this evening. I’m sure the heroes will be along soon, but I’d recommend you not wait for them. Her dreams are becoming reality, and with my akuma I can make it a nightmare.” Hawkmoth sent an akuma out, it went straight to Nathaniel who had been the closest to the stage.

“No.” The akuma was caught by a shimmering pink see through version of Marinette. “You can’t have him, he’s mine.” She released the akuma, now pink, and it fluttered to Nathaniel. “This is my dream...” she vanished and Nathaniel was transformed into the Evillustrator, but his skin color didn’t change and he didn’t seem evil.

“Thanks Princess Marinette!” Nathaniel grinned, “Might Illustrater at your service!”

“You can’t protect all of them!” Akuma’s were sent out, some getting caught by ghostly Marinette’s, others remaining evil. 

Lila was hit, turning into Volpina. Chloe turned into Queen Wasp.

Everyone scattered.

Might Illustrator did his best to get those near him to safety. Kagami caught one of the pink butterflies and transformed herself into a mix of her akuma forms. She started clashing with Chloe almost immediately.

Adrien slipped away in the confusion.

“This isn’t good.” Plagg informed Adrien as he skidded to a stop in a closet. “The last time this happened, it took a century to undo.”

“This has happened before?”

“The butterfly was with a hero at the time, things went wrong, Ladybug knows more details.” Plagg turned away to hide his panic. Tikki’s holder was the victim... there was a slim possibility that Tikki could convince a dream version of her wielder to become Ladybug, but it was more likely she’d have to find a replacement ladybug... though it wouldn’t matter, she wouldn’t be able to do anything until Marinette was awake.

“Well, let’s find her. Plagg, claws out!”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tikki is NOT happy with the situation. 
> 
> And Hawkmoth needs to have better priorities.

Tikki sighed, more than a little exasperated at the situation. Mostly because of her current companion.

“So ... this is a problem.” Xuppu noted, munching on the fruit bowl. “I kinda hoped this wouldn’t happen again.”

“Can you use uproar?” Tikki asked, though she already knew the answer. The good news was that since Marinette was still wearing her earrings, Tikki could do something... she just needed her wielder to wake up first.

“... not without a wielder. Especially with that head injury, it might mess with your cure ...” Xuppu grimaced. He wanted to save Marinette, but unrestrained magic was unpredictable and dangerous and the last thing they needed was him damaging their future guardian. 

Head injuries were especially difficult, the only power that wouldn’t make them worse was Ladybug’s cure, and that was still rather tricky.

“We have to do something...” Tikki fretted looking at Marinette. “I’m going into the dream!”

Xuppu almost inhaled the banana in shock. “Whoa! You do that, you won’t be able to use Lucky Charm!” Her purification and cure abilities should still work, but that depended on how bad the head injury was.

“Chat Noir needs to know what he’s up against.” Tikki gently touched Marinette’s head. The dream had erased the appearance of the injury, but there was something off about the area. 

“Wish she’d kept the circlet instead of turning it into a headband.” Xuppu sighed, before sitting next to Marinette and gently grooming her hair. “There’s just no way to safely get back to her if I do, that Hawkmoth might notice the headband missing if he comes back.” The monkey miraculous sighed. 

“Wait, Marinette’s fashion kit is still here!” Tikki opened the box. “Xuppu, find some wire!” 

Xuppu obeyed. One of Jagged’s jackets was on a wire hangar. It took a little longer than either Kwami liked, but they got a replica of the monkey miraculous on her head and left to find Kim.

Just in time, as Hawkmoth returned to the suite, Natalie in tow. Fang growled, but Hawkmoth was able to use the link to have the dragon ignore them.

“Sir, is she alright?” Natalie went over to check on Marinette. She didn’t see any wound but something was off about the girl’s appearance.

“Ladybug’s cure should heal her, as her injury led to the akumatization.”

“Should I become Mayura?”

“This time, I’m afraid we want the heroes to win. Her dream realm is still expanding, and I would rather it not reach the mansion.” Hawkmoth glanced at the bed, and once again, a familiar life support bed briefly shimmered around her. “According to Nooro, this has happened before. The guardian and Ladybug should know how to fix it ... if not, then we’ll risk Mayura helping them.” 

“I understand.” Nathalie nodded. “Madame Bourgeois wishes to speak with you about Fashion weeks theme this year.” 

“Set an appointment for next week, hopefully I can talk her out of a heroes theme.” Hawkmoth rolled his eyes at the thought.

“Yes sir.” Natalie entered the note in her tablet. “Your meeting with the board is in two days, they’re likely to push for you to start attending more functions.”

“I think I’ll tell them that the akumas are too disruptive for my tastes, and I have no interest in dealing with anyone who may try to attack me.” Hawkmoth chuckled. “Ah, it seems there’s a war started between my akumas and the princess’s. This should be interesting.”

Once again he ignored the brief flutter of Nooro trying to get his attention.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team ‘Save the Princess’ gathers, and more exposition is given.

Kim only slightly regretted agreeing to the challenge with Alix, the high heels he was wearing were starting to rub his actual heels raw.

Still, he had managed to escape the butterflies and kept a hold on his tray. Hungry, he snacked as he started to look for his friends.

“Kim!” Ladybug dropped down in front of him.Xuppu carrying a familiar miraculous next to her. “I’m glad I found you. We’re going to need King Monkey for this.”

“You can count on me!” Kim said around a mouthful of food. He took the circlet then paused. The memory of what happened to Marinette flashed through his mind. He was an athlete, and more than one coach had yelled at him for not taking injuries too seriously. He knew better now, and possible head injuries could be serious. “Ladybug, Marinette was hurt, it looked pretty bad, is it really okay to use uproar on her?” Would the magic help or hurt her?

“If you had more training with Xuppu, I would say yes. But since you don’t... Xuppu, eat this.” Ladybug took out a tiny pink macaroon. “This will change uproar into a weaker version of my cure. It will only work once, so be careful, Marinette is counting on you.”

Kim quickly put the circlet on with a relieved grin. “Let’s go save a Princess! Xuppu, Showtime!”

Xuppu hastily swallowed the macaron, briefly lighting up pink. Kim felt the surge of energy even ease the pain of his feet. The transformation was fun and he felt ready for anything. If he bothered to look in a mirror, he would notice pink accents on his mask, belt, boots and gloves.

“Lead the way, Ladybug!” King Monkey swung the staff to rest on his shoulders. “The king is here to help!”

“The layout of the hotel is changing, so we need a way back up. I’ll explain as we go, but this isn’t the first time this has happened.” Ladybug began to explain.

* * *

Chat Noir was not having a good time. Queen Wasp and Kagami were fighting each other and not caring about the civilians in the line of fire. Queen Wasp more so than Kagami.

“Chat Noir, look out!” Alix tackled him out of the way as Volpina snuck up behind him.

“Thanks!” Chat smiled at Alix, Volpina shrieked in pain as Might Illustrator drew and threw a table at her that she didn’t dodge.

“How?!” Volpina looked stunned. She was then trapped in a cage that she couldn’t get out of.

“Just stay there until we rescue Marinette, Lila.” Chat sighed. Kagami and Queen Wasp has moved their battle to another room. “We need to find a way up.”

“I saw the stairs, they’re this way.” Alix lead Chat and Might Illustrator out of the room.

“Rock and Roll! Tom, stop!” Jagged’s akumatized form dodged Weredad’s charge.

“-trusted she was safe with you!” Weredad snarled.

“I’m sorry! We were keeping her away from Bob after he stole her work!” Jagged’s apology fell on deaf ears as Weredad lunged at him.

“Yeah, no.” Alix grabbed Chat’s tail to keep him from following the two. “Looks like Marinette’s akuma got Jagged while Hawkmoth got her dad.” Alix paused. “There’s something I never want to say again. We need to stop chasing them and just go.”

Chat grimaced. “You May have a point. Trying to stop everyone fighting is just a distraction from rescuing Marinette.”

Something crashed and someone screamed. Alix grabbed Chat’s tail again to stop him looking for the source.

“Okay, could you stop pulling my tail?”

“If it keeps you on track, no.”

Might Illustrator was ignoring the two. “Guys, I think the elevators have disappeared.”

“Stairs have too.” Chat groaned.

“How do we get up?” Alix looked annoyed. “Can you draw the stairs?”

Might Illustrator grimaced and held up his tablet. A set of stairs was drawn there, but as he demonstrated, any attempt to erase the wall in front of them didn’t work. “I don’t know why it’s not working!”

“We’ll find another way, let’s go!” Chat lead them down a hall that opened up, just as several doors vanished. “Is this what happened to the stairs?”

“This is one large dream realm, but you think it wouldn’t be so ... fluid.” Alix tapped her foot on the floor, making it ripple like water.

“That would be because it’s unstable.” Ladybug and King Monkey dropped down in front of them.

“Ladybug!”

“King Monkey! Good to see you again.” Chat grinned as he bumped fists with the monkey hero. “So, what’s the deal, Bugaboo? I know this happened before, but some how this is worse?”

“As I was explaining to King Monkey, the last time this happened, the butterfly miraculous was a hero and actively kept the dream stable until rescue arrived. Unfortunately, Hawkmoth’s dream akumas are making this dream unstable by adding more dreamers to the equation without him actually helping.” Ladybug sighed. “As a result, the dream will continue to expand and suck people in. It’s contained to the building for now, but Marinette is creative and has memories all over Paris, so unlike the sleeping beauty who only really knew her castle, Marinette’s dreams will be constantly creating and expanding.” Ladybug paused a moment, then sighed. “Also, her nightmares will eventually become real, and drag people into those as well.”

“And Marinette has anxiety, so those will be the worse case scenarios... and the horror film Juleka got us that last sleepover.” Alix realized. “Oops.”

“You watched a horror movie with Mylene?” Might Illustrator asked, beating King Monkey who was gently elbowed by Ladybug.

“She went to bed early and wore those white noise earmuffs.”

“And to make matters worse, I got sucked into the dream as well. My powers won’t work right, so Chat Noir and King Monkey, you two absolutely cannot get sucked into the dream.” Ladybug instructed.

“Understood, My lady!” Chat bowed. “Let’s rescue the princess!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My guess is that the pink potion matches with the no longer in use stone of the heart that let PV ladybug use multiple cures.
> 
> Probably wrong, but that made the most sense.
> 
> (Also, Volpina thought his powers were illusion based, and just didn’t dodge. Her goof.)


End file.
